Tennesseans elected Republican Bill Lee as the state’s 50th governor on Tuesday, voting into office a political newcomer who rose to prominence traveling the state in an RV, avoiding negative attacks and appealing to voters as a conservative businessman and devout person of faith.

Lee, 59, won the race by 20 points, receiving 59 percent of the vote to Democrat Karl Dean's 39 percent in the race for governor.

"I'm humbled. I'm honored. And I couldn't be more grateful," Lee said to a crowd of supporters in Franklin as he stood next to his wife, Maria. "I'm grateful you placed your trust in us to lead this great state of Tennessee."

People lift their hands in prayer during the invocation at the election party for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee at the Factory in Franklin, Tenn. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Shelley Mays/The Tennessean

Robert Payne is decked out in red, white and blue at the election night watch party for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Franklin, Tenn. George Walker IV / The Tennessean

Mary Neil and her husband Findlay of Nashville cheer as election results come in during the election party for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee at the Factory in Franklin, Tenn. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Shelley Mays/The Tennessean

The line at Antioch High School stretches all the way down the hall, estimated to be an 1.5-hour wait at 6:49 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, according to poll worker Mitzy Johnson, who hasnÕt seen a line this long since the last presidential election. Mariah Timms / The Tennessean

Joyce Jennette takes a photo of her husband, Tony, of Pegrom, at the election party for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee at the Factory in Franklin, Tenn. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Joynce Jennette said she went to middle school with Bill Lee. Shelley Mays/The Tennessean

Jy'Zayiah Davis, 9, of Knoxville, wears "I Voted" Tennessee stickers on his face while at Fair Garden Elementary School while his mom votes on Election Day in Knoxville, Tennessee on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Voters were voting for Tennessee's next governor, U.S. senator, congressional representatives and dozens of state lawmakers. Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel

Madison County Election volunteers show some voters how to use the machines before stepping away for voters to cast their ballots in the 2018 midterm elections, Tuesday, November 6. KENNETH CUMMINGS/The Jackson Sun

Dan Chappell wears red white and blue glasses while waiting in line at the Shelby Park Community Center in Nashville on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. "It's fun to get in the spirit," Chappell said. Mike Clark / For The Tennessesan

Bill Huff of Franklin celebrates his son, Brandon Huff,19, voting for the first time with a photo at the Westhaven Clubhouse polling location in Franklin, Tenn. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Shelley Mays/The Tennessean

Gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean, right, shakes hands with James Sutton, 9, as father Bo Sutton, left, watches, outside of Bearden High School on Election Day in Knoxville on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel

A sign reminding voters to have their photo identification is placed on the table as voters enter to cast their ballots in the 2018 midterm elections, Tuesday, November 6. KENNETH CUMMINGS/The Jackson Sun

A sign reminding voters to have their photo identification is placed on the table as voters enter to cast their ballots in the 2018 midterm elections, Tuesday, November 6. KENNETH CUMMINGS/The Jackson Sun

John Smith looks over a sample ballot while waiting in line at the Shelby Park Community Center in Nashville on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Smith said he recently moved to the area so he wanted to familiarize himself with the amendment proposals before voting. Mike Clark / For The Tennessesan

Dan Chappell and Laura Chappell talk to River Chappell, 3 months, while waiting in line at the Shelby Park Community Center polling place in Nashville on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Mike Clark / For The Tennessesan

Nakia Scott, of Knoxville, shares a laugh with Joanne Dixon after voting at Fair Garden Elementary School on Election Day in Knoxville, Tennessee on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Voters were voting for Tennessee's next governor, U.S. senator, congressional representatives and dozens of state lawmakers. Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel

Dave Mohr, 31, and Nicole Mohr, 26, stop to fill out an exit poll survey after voting at the Williamson County Recreation Center on Tuesday. We love voting," Dave Mohr said with a smile. "We vote every chance we get." Added Nicole Mohr: "We always try to get all our friends to register, too. "Yeah, we are those people," Dave Mohr said. Jessica Bliss / The Tennessean

A voter casts their ballot at Fair Garden Elementary School on Election Day in Knoxville, Tennessee on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Voters were voting for Tennessee's next governor, U.S. senator, congressional representatives and dozens of state lawmakers. Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel

Voters check in to vote at Fair Garden Elementary School on Election Day in Knoxville, Tennessee on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Voters were voting for Tennessee's next governor, U.S. senator, congressional representatives and dozens of state lawmakers. Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel

The former two-term Nashville mayor presented himself throughout the race as a centrist, seeking to appeal to independents and moderate Republicans as he compared himself to current Gov. Bill Haslam, who has held office the last eight years.

"But I still believe that the message we had was the message Tennessee needed to hear."

His unsuccessful bid in the governor’s race marks the first time Dean, who built a career in public service, has lost an election.

Between serving as mayor from 2007 to 2015 and Nashville’s elected public defender in the 1990s, Dean was appointed Metro law director under Mayor Bill Purcell, a position he held until the mid-2000s.

Soon after polls closed, Republicans declared victory

Haslam said that in electing Lee, Tennesseans had made "a great choice for our next governor."

"Bill Lee is a man with strong character and love for our state and will make the right decisions to keep Tennessee moving forward," Haslam said in a statement. "I am excited to see what this state will accomplish under his leadership.”

Supporters take a selfie with Bill Lee at his election party on Tuesday in Franklin.(Photo: Shelley Mays / The Tennessean)

Just 20 minutes after polls closed, the Tennessee Republican Party had already declared "overwhelming victory" for Lee.

"Bill’s victory tonight shows that Tennesseans in every community believe in him and his vision for the future," state GOP chairman Scott Golden said. "I have no doubt that Bill is the right man to lead our state from good to great as Tennessee’s chief executive.”

Lee will be the first Republican governor to take over from a member of his own party since Dewitt Senter in 1869. Until now, since Winfield Dunn was elected governor in 1971, the parties have switched control of the governor’s office every eight years.

Lee supporter: 'He's just a special man'

More than 1,000 Lee supporters gathered at the Factory at Franklin’s Liberty Hall — the same location where Lee celebrated his primary win in August — to watch results as they came in.

Tammy Birchfield, of Elizabethton, traveled hundreds of miles to Franklin on Tuesday to attend Lee’s election night party. She made sure she was standing front and center at the stage where Lee would later speak to supporters.

Birchfield said she supports Lee because of his morals and has traveled to Lee campaign events around the state. She doesn't always vote Republican.

“He’s a godly man,” Birchfield said. “He’s just a special man. I think when he tells us something it’s going to happen.”

Nathan Burkholder was still in the collared Mr. Appliance shirt he wore to work today to the Clarksville business he owns.

He had never met Lee, but decided on a whim to come by the party after finishing up his last service call for the day nearby.

“I supported him since the very beginning, voted for him in the primary," Burkholder said, describing Lee as a "great guy."

Burkholder said he appreciated Lee’s platform, and as a conservative himself, hopes that Lee takes the state in an even more conservative direction.

"It is awesome to have a man like that in the governor’s house," he said.

'We fought the good fight'

Supporters of Dean trickled into Dean’s watch party at Clementine Hall in West Nashville, where Dean also held his primary election night victory party.

Early on in the evening, his staff was buoyed by reports of tremendous voter turnout, especially in Davidson County, Dean’s home base where numbers were on track to surpass the presidential election in 2016.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean delivers his concession speech at his campaign party Tuesday.(Photo: Alan Poizner / For The Tennessean)

In his concession speech, Dean said despite the disappointing loss, he was pleased that Tennessee — which has had one of the worst voter turnout rates in the country — had seen massive increases in turnout this election, including in Nashville.

"Whether you agree or disagree with the result — and hopefully people in here disagree with the result — it is a good thing that people in Tennessee voted the way they did," Dean said.

He pointed to his platform of improving schools and access to health care, growing the state's economy and ensuring Tennessee is a place "everybody is welcome, treated with dignity and respected."

"We fought the good fight, and now we'll move on to fight in a different arena," Dean said.

'I will be the governor of every Tennessean'

Lee told the audience he and his wife had spent months nearly living out of their campaign RV because they believed the office of governor was his calling.

“We did it because we felt called to serve,” Lee said. “And we have a vision for the future of this extraordinary state.”

That God-given vision, Lee said, is what motivated him to keep his campaign positive “from the beginning to the very last day.”

Mary Neil and her husband Findlay of Nashville cheer as election results come in during the election party for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee at the Factory in Franklin on Tuesday.(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean )

He pointed to Katherine Willey and Billy Inman, a pair of neighbors in Nashville recently profiled by the USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee, who remain friends and continue to socialize despite having opposing political views and large dueling U.S. Senate campaign signs in their yards.

“To me, that’s a picture of what can be in the state of Tennessee going forward,” Lee said. “If we all take Katherine and Billy’s example, Tennessee will be better off as a result of it.”

He encouraged everyone to remove their own yard signs now that the election is over.

Lee said he would work to make proud even those who didn’t vote for him.

“I give you my word that I want to be the governor and I will be the governor of every Tennessean,” Lee said.

An unlikely winner for Tennessee's office of governor

While Lee’s lack of government experience made him somewhat an unlikely candidate for an office historically held by former mayors, congressmen and state representatives, he presented his position as an outsider as an advantage.

Lee touted his business acumen as the leader of Lee Company, a Franklin-based HVAC, plumbing and electrical business generating $250 million annually.

Traveling the state and back in an RV — and before that on a tractor — Lee twice visited all 95 counties in 95 days on his “Believe in Tennessee” tour.

He told his own story of overcoming grief from the death of his first wife, emphasizing his Christian faith and arguing that partnerships with the private sector and nonprofits, not more government, can solve Tennessee’s health care, education and criminal justice issues.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, described Lee on Tuesday night as "an executive and CEO who is just as comfortable on a farm or factory floor as he is in a boardroom."

"After watching how Bill connects with people and inspires our citizens, I am convinced he is the perfect person to lead our state at this moment," McNally said in a statement. "We are in strong position as a state but there is more left to do."

Lee emerged from crowded Republican primary and remained in the lead

While the Lee and Dean campaigns remained cordial and both candidates largely refrained from launching attacks, polling throughout the race consistently showed Lee up by more than 10 points leading up to Election Day.

Emerging from a field of four Republicans in the August primary, Lee beat out U.S. Rep. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd and House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville.

In the Democratic primary, Dean defeated House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, by an overwhelming margin.

In what became the most expensive governor's race in state history, the Republican candidates spent nearly $50 million in the primary, which devolved into a flurry of attack ads, anonymous text messages and deceiving direct mail pieces as Aug. 2 approached.

Lee's strategy of refraining from the bickering was successful as the primary drew to a close, giving him a boost in the polls where he had previously trailed Black and Boyd, who criticized Lee's previous political contributions to Democrats and other business decisions he had made.

While Dean in the final weeks of the race criticized Lee as someone who would be an "extreme governor who would take us background," he resisted attacks throughout most of his campaign, including in the candidates' three October debates.

In an ad released in mid-October, Dean lambasted Lee for his support for arming teachers and allowing public funds to go toward private schools through voucher programs while opposing Medicaid expansion for the uninsured.

Since becoming their parties' nominees in August, Dean spent $5.2 million and Lee $4.4 million in the race.

In his victory speech, Lee congratulated Dean on a "race well run," noting it's "a difficult thing to run for governor."

"He is to be commended for his commitment to Tennessee," Lee said.

Dean told supporters he wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

"What I have seen of our state, I will say this, that Tennessee's best days are still to come."

Holly Meyer and Nate Rau contributed to this story.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.